


Lying Here, In Your Bed

by onemoresomething



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek Comes Back, Derek gets a job, Derek gets jealous, Derek has a Stiles' bed kink, Derek likes Stiles bed, M/M, Masturbation, Mild Language, Panic Attacks, Season 3, Stiles Takes Care Of Derek, Stiles and Lydia hook up, Summer, What happened over summer, What happened to the Camaro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-14
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-26 13:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/966478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onemoresomething/pseuds/onemoresomething
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek knew it was wrong. Lying there, on Stiles’ bed. When he wasn’t home. But to be fair, it had been months since he had done it last.</p><p>And it’s not like used to do it often anyway. Once (okay, twice) a week was not often. Especially not when he was purely there for professional reasons. </p><p>Well, at least that’s how it started.</p><p>Working together, over the summer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Derek knew it was wrong. Lying there, on Stiles’ bed. When he wasn’t home. But to be fair, it had been _months_ since he had done it last.

And it’s not like used to do it often anyway. Once (okay _, twice_ ) a week was _not_ often. Especially not when he was purely there for professional reasons.

Well, at least that’s how it started.

Working together, over the summer.

The first time, Derek had been in the woods again, trying to pick up some semblance of a scent of Boyd or Erica – _again_. Isaac had taken the other side of town, and each day they would come back to the loft (Derek had a loft now – _long_ story) and cross off the areas they had searched – unsuccessfully – in heavy silence.

Of course he knew it was pointless, looking for them. They were long gone, there was nothing left of their scent, but at least looking for them gave him something to do, instead of wallowing in his own guilt in the loft. It was, ultimately, his fault they were missing after all; it was the least he could do.

His phone had vibrated in his pocket, and pulling it out he frowned in confusion at the name of the sender that had popped up on the screen. Curious, he swiped his finger across to open it.

**_Stiles_ **

_Got info on Boyd and Erica. 8PM, my house. We both know you don’t need the address._

Derek scolded himself for the tiny burst of hope he felt at seeing those words. He couldn’t know for sure what kind of information Stiles had; for all he knew it could be completely useless.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to at least find out.

It was 8:02PM and he’d been parked down the road in the Camaro (before it had been totalled and he’d used the insurance money to get the Toyota – _another_ long story, we’ll get to that later) for the last thirty minutes, waiting for Stiles’ to get home. Derek could tell no one was in the house – besides both the Jeep and the Cruiser missing from the driveway, the house was utterly silent.

He turned on the ignition, ready to give up and drive away when he felt the familiar vibration of his phone again.

**_Stiles_ **

_Running late. 5 mins. Wait for me._

Derek turned off the ignition subconsciously, still staring at the words on the screen.

_Wait for me._

It was strange, and he didn’t know why, but for some reason it made him smile. Next thing he knew he was out of his car and walking towards the front door.

It wouldn’t have been the first time he’d let himself into Stiles’ house without permission; he was going to be there in five minutes anyway, he doubted Stiles would mind him getting comfortable.

He was wrong.

Derek had barely sat down on the edge of Stiles’ bed when the lights had flickered on, Stiles yelping and flailing and then yelling and still flailing and scolding and saying _you can’t just keep letting yourself into my house it’s creepy and weird and stalker-y and did I mention creepy?_

Granted, it probably would have been _less_ creepy if he’d had turned the lights on. Sometimes he forgets not everyone has night vision.

 

**xXx**

 

Like Derek had predicted, the information had ended up being bogus. But the next week when Stiles had texted him claiming to have more information on the two Betas ( _this time it’s legit i swear),_ he was back at Stiles’ house again – although this time he waited for Stiles to invite him inside.

It went on like that for a few weeks, Stiles letting Derek know whenever he found some new information. Derek even started texting Stiles anytime he learned something new, asking him for advice, or if he wanted to help out (note: he _always_ wanted to help out).

The second time he’d found himself on Stiles’ bed, he’d started off looking over Stiles’ shoulder at the pages on Alpha wolves Lydia had translated from the bestiary. When he’d leaned forward to look at the screen a bit closer he was surprised to feel the brush of Stiles’ hair against the side of his jaw.

‘Your hair is longer.’

‘Why thank you, Captain Obvious,’ Stiles replied, still looking at the screen.

‘Why?’

‘Because, I didn’t cut it?’

‘It looks good. Suits you.’

Stiles turned to look at him then, face only inches away. He went to open his mouth, as if about to say something when-

When Stiles phone started ringing.

‘Damn, that’s my dad. I gotta take this.’

Stiles answered and got up to leave the room, turning back quickly to hold up five fingers and mouth the word ‘five’ and yep Derek got it - you’ll be five minutes.

Five minutes that turned into ten minutes and he could still hear the conversation going on downstairs, a conversation that had something to do with why one of the deputies had sworn she had seen Stiles running down the main street at 2AM the other night (you guessed it,long story) and it didn’t sound like it was going to end anytime soon.

Derek had been pacing back and forward for the last ten minutes, but he finally sighed and let himself drop onto the bed. After a minute of just sitting there ( _she said you were brandishing a baseball bat Stiles!),_ he shuffled up the bed slightly, swinging his legs up and letting his head fall against the boy’s pillows.

If he was going to be here a while, he may as well get comfortable.

‘Made yourself at home I see?’

Okay he may have gotten a little too comfortable and it must have had something to do with how damn _good_ Stiles’ sheets smelled because he was definitely just asleep and no that was not a little bit of drool on Stiles’ pillow and thank god he had managed to keep _it_ down.

‘Is this a thing you do regularly? Break into people’s houses; fall asleep on their beds?’

Derek had looked up to see Stiles’ leaning in the doorway, arms crossed and eyebrow raised smugly. Although, Derek noticed, there was a lot less yelling and flailing and scolding than last time.

Huh.

 

**xXx**

 

The third time, funnily enough, had been the night he’d wrapped the Camaro around the trunk of a tree. He’d been on his way to Stiles’, (to do research, yes that’s _definitely_ what he was going there for) when his phone had started ringing.

He’d answered it and put it on speaker (no, he didn’t crash the Camaro by using his phone while driving _thank you very much_ ). It had become the norm for them to call each other by that stage, speaking on the phone more often than they would text.

_‘Hey, you far away?’_

‘On my way. Thought I’d pick up a pizza or something if you were hungry?’

_‘Are you kidding, I’m always hungry. And I’ve got the first three movies set up and ready to go – if I can’t get Scott to watch Star Wars at least I can get you to watch them.’_

Like he said. Research.

‘Well I’ve seen the first-‘

That’s when the dog ran in front of his car. Fortunately his werewolf reflexes kicked in fast enough for him to swerve and spare the life of his fellow canine; _un_ fortunately he wasn’t fast enough to save his Camaro from the same fate.

He thinks it wouldn’t have been as bad if it hadn’t been the driver’s side that hit the tree. Even with his strength and accelerated healing, the impact still caused him to black out.

_‘DEREK? DEREK CAN YOU HEAR ME?’_

The sound was fuzzy as he came to, like he was hearing it from the other side of a glass wall. But gradually it pulled him back.

_‘Derek? Oh fuck. Oh shit Derek just please man just answer me…’_

‘St-Stiles?’

Immediately he winced from the movement it took for him to speak, but the indescribable sound of joy from the other side of the line made him smile through it.

_‘Derek what happened?’_

‘Crashed... the Camaro,’ he managed, although it was an effort.

The panicked tone returned to Stiles’ voice. _‘Oh my God, are you okay? Are you hurt?’_

Derek tried to look down and assess the damage. He was fairly sure without even having to see it that most of his left side had been crushed on impact, which was going to take a while to heal. He raised his good hand to the left side of his face where he found multiple pieces of glass protruding, leading a trail down his neck.

And there was lots of blood.

‘Yes.’

_‘But. But you’ll heal right?’_

‘Yes. Eventually.’

_‘Oh thank god.’_

‘Stiles?’

_‘Yeah?’_

‘I need you to come pick me up.’

Derek could hear the breaks on the Jeep screech as it pulled up just minutes later. He could hear the door open and the feet hit the asphalt and Stiles say ‘Holy fu- DEREK?’

After some awkward manoeuvring, Stiles somehow managed to pull Derek from the car out the passenger side door and drag him into the backseat of the Jeep. And after some heated discussion about whether they should go to the loft or Stiles’ house, they somehow end up back in Stiles’ bedroom on the basis that it was closer and the Sheriff was out on night duty anyway.

By the time he was sitting on Stiles’ bed, Derek had already gained back most of the feeling in his left side, but he still needed a bit of help extracting the glass from his face and neck to help it heal faster.

‘You’re an idiot you know. You had me worried sick. I legitimately thought you were dead,’ Stiles said, plucking a piece of glass out from under Derek’s eye.

Derek had tried to smile and raised his good hand to point at his face. ‘Werewolf, remember?’

‘Yeah,’ Stiles returned, face solemn. ‘But you’re not invincible.’

Stiles finished cleaning up Derek’s face and tried to clean up as much of the blood as possible so, as he put it, _his dad_ _wouldn’t have a conniption_. Derek offered to clean up the blood in the Jeep but Stiles said he’d take care of it tomorrow.

Once Derek felt strong enough to walk, he gingerly stood up to leave, only to be stopped by a pair of hands pushing him back down on to the bed.

‘Nice try Terminator, but you’re not going anywhere.’

‘Stiles, I’m _fine_.’

‘I don’t care _how_ fast you heal, the entire left side of your body was completely Picasso’d less than an hour ago – a sight I might mention I _never_ want to see again thank you very much please. And your head kind of looked like a stained glass window so I would a lot better about your wellbeing if you would just stay here until the morning. Please.’

Derek stared at the boy. Stiles was worried about him. Like _seriously_ worried about him. _Him._ Derek Hale.

‘Okay.’

‘Good,’ Stiles said, clapping his hands together like he’d just made some sort of achievement getting Derek to agree with him. Then he headed for the door.

‘Wait, where are you going?’

He turned back, standing in the doorway and tilted his head down the hall. ‘Dad’s room. You can stay here. I know how fond you are of my bed.’

Derek was glad that Stiles had disappeared laughing to himself down the hall before he could see Derek’s face turn bright pink. Because it was true, he thought, as he wrapped himself up in Stiles’ sheets.

He _was_ fond of Stiles’ bed.

And that was the night he became addicted to it.

 

**xXx**

Once school had started back, there were less and less reasons for Derek to be in Stiles’ room. In fact, with both of them so busy there were basically no opportunities for them to be alone. Not that he _wanted_ to be alone with Stiles. It was just something that he’d… gotten used to.

He’d resorted to sneaking into Stiles’ house when no one was home to get his fix. He didn’t think it was _that_ strange, really. It wasn’t like he _did_ anything while he was lying there. Okay, one time his mind may have drifted – to things that were definitely not Stiles and/or NSFW related – and his hand may have ended up down the front of his jeans but he put an end to that pretty quickly when he realised Scott would be able to tell _he’d been here_ next time he came over.

It had even been the first place he’d come after the fight with the Alphas in the abandoned department store. Derek had struggled all the way to the back door until he remembered Isaac telling him about that horribly timed cross-country meet. He didn’t think it would be very polite to bleed all over Stiles’ sheets without his permission.

Derek did manage to find help eventually, but we all know how _that_ ended.

And after everything, of course the only option that made sense was to leave. He’d done too much damage, hurt _too many people_. It was better this way.

But now, after six months of being on the road, he was back. Because something felt wrong while he was gone; it felt as though something was missing. And when he’d come back (minus Cora – she’d decided the nomad life suited her) and found himself parked across from Stiles’ house – that’s when it all made sense.

As much as he wanted to see Stiles, he was almost thankful that no one was home. Laying here, the scent of Stiles engulfing him, it felt like he’d never even left.

And _fuck it_ he was going to jerk off if he wanted to because he was in _Stiles’_ bed and he _missed_ Stiles and _fuck_ the number of times Stiles has probably jerked off in here…

The front door slammed.

_Shit._

How had he not heard the Jeep pull up? Right, because he’d been a little distracted with his hand down his pants.

Derek leapt from the bed, straightening himself out and then straightening the sheets out.

But… what now?

Does he leave? Stay? What does he say? _Hey Stiles, I know I left for six months without saying goodbye but now I’m back and I’m your room because I think I may be in love with you?_

Yeah, that wasn’t going to work.

Then he heard Stiles’ voice.

Okay, he was staying.

Then he heard the other voice. The _girl’s_ voice.

He knew that voice.

Lydia.

And they were getting closer.

And he froze.

Because they were no longer talking. They were doing a lot _more_ than talking _._ Up against Stiles’ bedroom door.

_‘If you don’t get me into your bed in the next thirty seconds Stilinski I might just change my mind.’_

_‘Oh no no no, you should most definitely_ not _do that.’_

He should leave. He should really, really leave. What he should not be doing is hiding in Stiles’ bathroom.

A moment later he heard the pair stagger into Stiles’ bedroom, the stench of their mixed arousal making him feel sick with jealousy.

Derek stepped backwards from the door, falling against the shower wall and sliding to the ground.

He was too late.

Who was he kidding? He never even had a _chance_. Stiles had always loved Lydia; everyone knew that. Even if Derek hadn’t left, of course they would have still ended up together.

 _‘Oh my god this is really happening. This_ is _really happening right?’_

 _‘Yes Stiles, this is_ really _happening.’_

Derek tried to block it out, block out everything, block out how _fucking stupid_ he’d been. He forced his palms against his ears but his _fucking_ werewolf hearing made that pretty pointless.

If he couldn’t already tell by Stiles’ heartbeat or his breathing or the tiny waver in his voice that this was Stiles’ first time, he was certain of it now.

_‘Stiles, do you have a-’_

_‘Oh shit, yes, just a sec-’_

If Derek hadn’t been so concerned with wallowing in his own failure of a life he would have heard Stiles heading for the bathroom.

But Derek wasn’t that lucky.

Stiles had opened and closed the door so quickly and Derek had left the lights off _again_ and then the lights were on and –

Stiles just stood there.

There was no yelping or flailing or yelling or more flailing or scolding or Stiles saying _you can’t just keep letting yourself into my house it’s creepy and –_

He just stared at Derek.

‘De-Derek?’

He looked up at the boy from his place on the floor. ‘Hey Stiles.’

‘Derek.’

Derek pushed himself to his feet, and was surprised to find Stiles was the same height as him now. He’d even bulked up a little bit – not too much, but he looked like a man now. He’d grown up.

And he was topless. Not that that was important.

‘You’re back.’

Stiles’ face was completely blank. Stunned.

‘I am.’

Stiles’ brow furrowed.

‘You’re in my bathroom.’

Derek looked away, but managed to laugh. ‘Thank you, Captain Obvious.’

Stiles rubbed a hand over his face, but Derek heard a small chuckle come from behind it. ‘Jerk. _Why_ are you in my bathroom?’ Derek smiled at the endearing way he said it. He’d missed that.

‘I – I wanted to see you. But then…’

Derek looked away and gestured awkwardly to the door.

The boy – no, _man_ now – looked confused for a minute, before his mouth dropped open and his heartbeat sped up again and his breathing picked up, and oh God, was Stiles having a panic attack?

_‘Stiles? You okay in there?’_

Stiles’ eyes went wide. ‘Uh, yeah! Yeah, just a minute Lydia! Can’t seem to find those damn condoms ha-ha-ha.’

Derek rushed forward and grabbed his face, forcing Stiles to look at him.

‘Stiles. Breathe,’ he said calmly, looking him straight in the eyes and taking deep breaths to try and get him to slow his own down. Derek rubbed his thumbs softly over Stiles’ cheeks, and slowly Stiles’ breathing returned to normal.

Stiles stared at him a moment, a little dazed. ‘Thanks. How’d you do that?’

Dropping his hands from Stiles face, he took a step back and shook his head. ‘I didn’t do anything.’

Although they’d averted the panic attack, Derek could tell Stiles was still nervous. Part of him wanted to help, but the other (very selfish) part of him wanted to throw Stiles over his shoulder and carry him out the bathroom window to the back seat of his Toyota and ravish him from head to toe.

‘Stiles-’

‘I don’t know why I’m so nervous. I shouldn’t be so nervous right?’

Derek sighed.

‘It’s your first time. Of course you’re going to feel nervous.’

‘Yeah, but…’ Stiles ran his hands over his face, up into his hair, tugging at it anxiously. ‘It just doesn’t feel _right_. Why doesn’t it feel right?’

Stiles dropped his arms to his sides, staring at Derek like he should have all the answers. And as Derek stared back at him, back at the man that he was (and yes, he was admitting it now) in love with he knew what he wanted the answer to be.

 _Because it should be with_ me _. Because_ you _should be with me._

‘It’s just nerves Stiles. You’ll be fine.’

Derek was glad Stiles didn’t have the ability to hear his heartbeat as he lied straight to his face. He could stand it any longer, they way Stiles was looking at him (not because it upset him, but because he didn’t think he could hold himself back from kissing the _fuck_ out of him) so he walked over to the bathroom window, sliding it open and climbing half way out.

‘You’ll be great. Lydia’s a lucky girl.’

‘Thanks Derek.’

Derek forced a smile as he turned to leave, when Stiles called back to him again.

‘Derek?’

‘Hmm?’

‘I’m really glad you’re back.’

Derek slipped from the window in silence. As he hopped into the Toyota, having absolutely no idea where he was going to go or what he was going to do, he smiled to himself. Surprisingly, for some reason, he was kind of… happy.

And it most definitely had _nothing_ to do with seeing the Sheriff’s Cruiser pull into the driveway as he drove into the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Derek was driving for about five minutes in content bliss before he realised he had no freaking clue where he was going.

He pulled the Toyota over to the side of the main street and turned off the ignition, staring blankly out of the windshield. To be honest, he hadn’t really thought past the confessing of his undying love to a certain sixteen ( _nearly_ seventeen, as Derek kept reminding himself) year-old boy, which he didn’t even get to do, in the end.

Wow, that sounded a lot worse when he actually said it out loud.

Not that it mattered now; Stiles was very much in a very heterosexual relationship. (He was keeping that mental snapshot of a very flustered and very topless Stiles in the memory bank though. Don’t judge him.)

No. Get your head in the game Derek. What the heck was he going to do?

As much as spending the night in Stiles’ bed was the obvious first preference, he was clearly going to have to find somewhere else to crash tonight if he didn’t want to spend the night sleeping in the back of the Toyota. He’d done that enough times on the road to know if there was a better option, _take it_. The only issue was, he wasn’t sure if there _was_ a better option.

Scott had had a full house when he’d left, with his dad back in the picture, not to mention Isaac – which yes, was partially (okay, completely) his fault.

He’d been trying to contact Peter for the last month with no luck, so that wasn’t an option.

Lydia was a little preoccupied at the moment.

The Argents? HAH.

Which leaves… huh.

Derek dropped his head against the steering wheel and groaned as the realisation that maybe leaving town and distancing himself from the only people he really cared about – okay, admit it, his _friends_ ; his _pack_ – wasn’t the smartest idea.

He was about to start the car back up when his hearing picked up the sound of a door closing and being locked across the street. It was only then, when he saw the silhouetted figure begin walking down the street, that he realised he’d somehow subconsciously made his way to the one person that looking after him would be in their job description.

Okay so maybe it wasn’t technically an emissary’s job to let you crash on their couch, but still.

‘Deaton!’ Derek called, leaping out of his car, and jogging across the street to meet him.

Surprisingly, Deaton didn’t seem at all surprised to see him, dropping his head and chuckling softly before turning to face him. Derek stopped in front of him, feeling a little awkward that they weren’t close enough to engage in a reunion hug; so he held out his hand, which Deaton shook avidly.

‘I was wondering how long it would be until I’d be seeing you. To tell you the truth I didn’t think it would be this soon.’

A little bemused, Derek took a step back, shaking his head. ‘You knew I was back in town?’

‘I know you got into town about two hours ago. And I know you’ve been sitting out the front of the clinic for the last five minutes. What I don’t know, is what assistance I can be of you at 11:54 on a Wednesday night.’

Derek stalled for a moment, wondering what he could possibly say to Deaton to make up for being such a sub-standard pack since the fire, even if Deaton hadn’t exactly made things clear to them. Maybe a – _Hi Derek, I’m not the evil Alpha you’re looking for, I’m actually your pack’s emissary and I’m here to help you –_ would have been helpful.

But it was really just him now, in terms of the pack. Cora was travelling; Isaac had been ready to jump this sinking ship weeks before he had left; and God knows where Peter was.

There was no pack. No Alpha, anymore. But he wanted to make things better. Or at least try.

And that’s what he’d say.

‘Deaton, I know you owe me absolutely nothing,’ he started. ‘As far as packs go, well, we didn’t exactly make things a walk in the park for you.’

Jesus, talking was hard.

‘I know I’m not an Alpha anymore. Hell there’s hardly a pack anymore. But I want to try and, make things better. And I don’t know how, but I think maybe you could help me.’

Deaton opened his mouth to reply, but Derek had hardly been this articulate in his entire life and he wasn’t about to stop now.

‘Don’t say anything now. I’m not asking you to commit to rebuilding the Hale Pack with me tonight. But if you could lend me a couch to sleep on for a night, or two-’

‘Of course.’ Deaton answered immediately, lifting a hand to grip Derek’s shoulder with a friendly smile. Relieved, Derek exhaled and returned the smile.

‘Thank you,’ he said, following as Deaton turned to cross the street to his car. ‘I wouldn’t have asked but I couldn’t get onto Peter and there wasn’t anyone else-’

Deaton had frozen in the middle of the road, dropping his head before turning towards him, face pinched.

‘What?’ Derek asked, his stomach dropping.

‘No one told you.’

It was a statement rather that a question. ‘Told me what?’

‘Peter. I’m so sorry Derek. We didn’t have a choice.’

Derek didn’t even need to hear the words. He wasn’t surprised really; Peter had always been unpredictable and power hungry to match. To be honest, Derek always knew this was how it was going to end; he’d just always thought he’d be the one having to deal the final blow. An odd combination of grief and relief suddenly overcame him; Peter may have been a psychopathic, narcissistic asshole bent on world domination, but he was still family, something Derek had very little of left.

‘H-how?’ Derek asked softly, after his brain had finally had time to process the information.

Deaton stepped forward, resting a comforting hand on his shoulder again. ‘Let’s go back to my house, I’ll pour us both a glass of whisky – whisky _and_ wolfsbane for you – and _then_ I’ll tell you what happened.’

 

**xXx**

 

Peter had gone after Scott. Now that Scott was an Alpha, he’d thought killing him would return his own Alpha status. Maybe it would have, maybe it wouldn’t have; and luckily now they would never find out.

It had been Lydia in the end, the one who had killed Peter. He guessed it was appropriate; a bit of karmic justice for all of the shit he put her through bringing him back to life. Derek just wished he’d been here. He should have been the one to do it. Not because Lydia didn’t deserve some kind of closure, _revenge_ , but because those kids had fucked up enough lives already, they didn’t need blood on their hands too.

It made it harder for him to hate Lydia too. He wanted to hate her, hate the way she got to kiss Stiles; got to _touch_ him in places that Derek wanted to touch him. But she obviously made Stiles happy. He just wished the person making Stiles happy got to be _him_.

Derek had woken up in the morning to Deaton heading out the door for work. While Derek didn’t have any long term plans for what he was going to do, he’d told Deaton last night that the first items on the agenda was to get a job and an apartment, which was the plan for today. Deaton said he was welcome to use the phone and the computer; he’d even left a spare key and circled jobs and apartments in the newspaper that he thought might be suitable. Derek sat down with a cup of coffee (that Deaton had brewed for him) and looked through the classifieds.

Mechanic. Ugh, no. While he loved the Camaro, it was a bitch to maintain.

Security Guard. Possibility, although knowing him he’d probably lose his temper with some idiotic drunkard and get a little _too_ rough throwing him out.

Personal Trainer. Hmm, getting warmer.

His eyes drifted to the last circle on the page. It was so ridiculous he disregarded it almost immediately, but his hand stalled as he went to turn the page, gaze finding its way back to the last red circle.

Well, maybe it wasn’t that ridiculous.

 

**xXx**

Derek still had a bit of insurance money left from the fire, but after the road trip and what he’d given to Cora to continue it, there wasn’t really enough left for him to rent a particularly extravagant apartment. He’d had enough time to check out three apartments before his interview that afternoon – the first one he’d hated, and the second was way out of his price range. The third was perfect; the only problem was he couldn’t move in until Monday. Hopefully Deaton didn’t mind him couch surfing for a few more nights.

He Google-mapped the store he was interviewing at on his phone, and parked the Toyota out the front of an antiquated little store on a small side street in the main town. The name of the store – _Chapter One_ – was written in big white letters on the shopfront. It had been the name really that had made up his mind for him; it felt right, like a fresh start – exactly what he wanted.

A bell jingled as he entered, the smell of books hitting him immediately. He loved that smell; when he was a kid ( _before_ the fire) he’d had piles and piles of books in his room, stacked up against the walls, next to his bed, under his bed, anywhere.

He liked it already; it reminded him of what it felt like to be home.

The other thing that hit him, was how surprisingly busy it was for a bookstore that wasn’t a Barnes & Noble. The door had hardly closed behind him before it was swinging open again and people were walking past him to get in and people were pushing past him to get out and then a pile of books was walking straight towards him-

The walking pile of books stopped in front of him, and turned ninety degrees to reveal the young lady carrying them. She was quite tall, not as tall as him though, and a bit younger; her hair was short and dark, and messy, and she wore a pair of thick-rimmed black reading glasses.

‘You look lost. Please tell me your name is Derek Hale.’

‘You must be Louise. Which means I’m in exactly the right place.’

Louise gave a quick sigh of relief and dumped the large pile of books into Derek’s arms. ‘Amazing. You’re hired. Fiction on the left, non-fiction on the right.’

Derek pretended to struggle slightly with the weight of the books (sometimes he forgets to keep up the ‘human’ pretence), but didn’t have to fake the look of confusion on his face. ‘Wait, what? No interview?’

Louise had already begun to make her way over to the cash register where a line of customers had begun to form. ‘I’ve had that ad in the newspaper for the last two weeks and in that time the only two people that have shown interest was a fourteen year-old boy who didn’t know who Harry Potter was and an eighty year-old woman who couldn’t see over the top of the counter,’ she said, somehow managing to serve customers while maintaining the steady flow of dialogue. ‘Now I have to pick up my little sister Pattie from school in an hour and a half before she tells me one more time that I put my job before her so I need someone to man the shop and close up at five-thirty. No interview necessary Derek. You’re officially an employee of Chapter One. Now go put those books away.’

So Derek did.

 

**xXx**

 

Derek was thankful that business seemed to slow down later in the afternoon, so he wasn’t completely run off his feet while he was still learning the ropes. Before she left, Louise showed Derek how to use the register and how to lock up before throwing him the keys and vanishing out the back door. She told him he could work whatever hours he wanted, as long as he was there by three every afternoon so she could pick up her sister. Derek learned that their love of books was not the only thing they had in common, with her parents being out of the picture, too. He also learned that he gets a 40% employee discount on all products.

When Deaton arrived home that night, Derek reading _To Kill a Mockingbird_ on his couch, he just smiled to himself, like he’d made a wager with himself about which job Derek would pick and he’d won.

Derek barely got out the question about whether he could stay a few more nights before Deaton was pulling the whisky glasses out again and sitting down next to him.

 

**xXx**

Derek likes to think he is a fast learner, but he got to Chapter One bright and early the next day so Louise could teach him as much about the store as possible before leaving him to fend for himself (okay, that’s a _slight_ exaggeration) again.

He learned that the store has been in Louise’s family for years, and when her father died, he left it to her. She had to put her college plans on hold because she couldn’t bear to sell the shop, and someone had to look after Patricia while she was still in school. But there were still plans. She was going to be a literary professor. One day.

He learned that the books are organised into fiction and non-fiction (left and right), then into genre, then alphabetically by author. No returns after seven days. No returns without a receipt. No returns if the books are damaged. Louise likes Horror, Fantasy and Romance novels in that order. New books get delivered on Tuesday mornings.

When Louise left for the day he felt much more prepared to look after the shop on his own. He didn’t freak out when the register decided to have a minor malfunction while seven people were impatiently tapping their toes in the line. He didn’t freak out when the tween-aged girl looked like she was about to pass out from shock when he told her he didn’t know what a _Twilight_ was.

He was down behind the counter, looking for something, the store empty when he heard the door open, bell jingling through the silence.

That scent.

It hit him immediately.

He could sense it all, the confusion, the realisation, the one brief moment of happiness before the anger took over.

‘Derek?’

He stood slowly, turning towards the entrance, crossing his arms defensively.

‘Hello Scott.’

Scott just stood there, hands clenched at his sides, mouth set in a tight line. They stared each other down for a minute, neither one wanting to be the one to break the silence.

Naturally, Scott broke first.

‘You’re an asshole.’

Derek could tell it wasn’t as venomous as he had intended it to be. He didn’t reply. He just nodded, in agreement. Scott had a point.

‘A complete jerk.’

He nodded. Again.

‘You don’t just leave Derek. You don’t just leave without telling your _friends_ where you’re going, when you’ll be back. We worried about you. Such a dick move.’

The word hit him like a punch to the gut. No, not dick – he’d been called a dick plenty of times. _Friends_. And he finally understood. Once again, Scott had a point.

‘I’m sorry, Scott,’ Derek said, hoping Scott could sense his sincerity. He had no idea that his leaving would have such an effect on people, his _friends_. He had no idea that they cared this much. ‘It’s good to see you.’

He watched Scott struggle with that for a moment, clearly not expecting Derek to cave and apologise so quickly. But suddenly the younger wolf was stalking towards him, hands clenching and unclenching at his side, eyes beginning to burn red. Scott leapt the counter, lunged towards him and-

Hugged him.

Derek froze, arms not knowing what to do for a moment.

‘It’s good to see you too, Derek,’ Scott said, and Derek gave in, smiling to himself and patting Scott on the back.

Scott pulled away, leaning back against the other side of the counter. The friendly puppy dog smile Derek was used to seeing when Scott was happy had returned, and he finally relaxed. Hey, he was allowed to be scared of Scott now – he was pretty sure Scott could take him down now he was just a Beta.

‘So dude, when did you get back? Have you just been hiding out in town for the last six months and we just didn’t notice or something?’

Derek chuffed a little laugh, before tilting his head at Scott in confusion.

‘Wait, Stiles didn’t tell you I was back?’

Now Scott looked confused.

‘Why would Stiles know you were back?’

Derek looked away, trying to process the news that Stiles had not told his best friend that Derek was back in town. There was something definitely off about it… Stiles had the biggest mouth (figuratively _and_ literally, but he tries not to think about that) out of anyone in Beacon Hills, so he must have had a good reason for keeping it to himself.

‘I saw him.’

‘When.’

‘Two nights ago. He didn’t tell you?’

The unmistakeable flash of red had returned to Scott’s eyes.

Derek may have just inadvertently caused a future argument between the two that he really hoped he wouldn’t be around for.

Scott didn’t really look like he was in any condition to talk, so Derek did.

‘He was a little distracted though, to be honest. He and Lydia were… well… _you know_ ,’ Derek tried to ignore the jealous pang in his stomach. ‘He probably just forgot he even saw me.’

Scott seemed to relax a little bit at that, but then he groaned and threw his hands up, frustrated. ‘Ugh, that’s all he ever does these days! Spends _all_ his time with Lydia. I’m lucky if I see him one night a week.’

Derek doesn’t _really_ want to be having this conversation but, ‘Well Scott, he’s a teenage boy – what do you expect.’ He had to try really hard to not roll his eyes.

‘I expect him to hang out with his best bro, instead of researching mythological creatures into the ungodly hours of the morning.’

Okay, somewhere along the line the lines had definitely gotten crossed. Researching? What the hell was Scott on about? Was that was the kids were calling _it_ these days?

‘Scott… They were doing a little – a _lot_ – more than researching.’

They were both looking at each other like the other one had just been smoking wolfsbane, until realisation dawned upon Scott.

‘They were WHAT?’

The door jingled again.

‘Hey Scott they didn’t have Pistachio so I got you Coconut instea-’

Stiles froze just inside the entrance, a cup of frozen yogurt in either hand, nearly dropping them both when the door slammed behind him. He looked very unsure of what to do, eyes darting between the two werewolves nervously as they both glared at him, obviously searching for something to say.

‘Oh my God!’ He exclaimed finally, his voice straining under the pretence of his surprise. ‘It’s Derek! Derek’s back Scott!’ he continued futilely, wild limbs gesturing towards Derek. ‘I can’t believe it! Derek, when-’

‘I know.’

‘He knows.’

Derek and Scott interrupted in unison.

‘Riiight,’ Stiles started, nodding to himself slowly before turning to Scott. ‘So, Scott funny story-’

‘Duuuude,’ Scott whined, dropping the tough, macho, _I’m-the-alpha-now_ attitude. ‘Why didn’t you tell me Derek was back? Don’t you think that would be something I’d be interested in knowing?’

Stiles walked towards them both tentatively, Derek noticing that Stiles was making an effort of avoiding all eye contact with him. Stiles shoved the tub of dairy by-product towards Scott, obviously hoping it would help mend the situation, if only a little bit.

‘Okay,’ Stiles started, still not looking at Derek. ‘To be honest Scott he was there and gone so quickly I wasn’t 100% sure I hadn’t just imagined him being a creeper in my bathroom-’

‘You were in his _bathro_ -’

‘Details Scott, focus! When no-one mentioned seeing or hearing from him yesterday or today I was sure that I’d just had some kind of weird hallucinatory panic attack because I was about to-’

Stiles stopped, Scott looking at him expectantly.

‘About to what Stiles? _Bang_ Lydia?’

Stiles’ jaw dropped, his eyes going wide. ‘Wha- No! Well, yes okay but it’s not like that Scott-’

‘Not like what? You lose your V-Card to _Lydia_ and you don’t think that’s something you tell your best bud? I didn’t even know you guys were seeing each other-’

‘Scott would you just liste-’

‘I texted you five minutes after my first time with Alli-’

Stiles exploded. ‘Well I’m telling you now Scott – I _didn’t_ do it and I am _not_ seeing Lydia!’

‘You didn’t?’ Scott asked.

‘You’re not?’ Derek asked, perhaps a little too eagerly.

Stiles sighed, turning first to answer Scott. ‘No we didn’t. My Dad came home early and kind of, _killed_ the mood. And no,’ he continued, turning towards Derek and holding his gaze, for the first time since he’d entered, swallowing hard. ‘I’m not seeing Lydia.’

Well _this_ changes things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise in advance for the 0.01% of actual Sterek in this chapter but it had to happen. 
> 
> I can't believe I actually wrote another chapter but here you go and I hope you like it enough to wait for another one! I wasn't expecting anyone to read this or like this or want to read more of this so thank you lovely people that did!
> 
> Once again my [tumblr](www.onemoresomething.tumblr.com) if you'd like to come visit me.

**Author's Note:**

> This is set after the end of 3a, when Derek (finally) returns from wherever the hell he went.
> 
> I'd seen a lot of theories going around that Stiles was going to be shirtless and losing his virginity towards the end of season 3 so this was my take on how that would go down (with added Sterek because obviously). This is my first Sterek fic (that I've actually finished) so apologies if it is terrible. Also un-beta'd (argh!)
> 
> Warning that Stiles does have mini panic attack but it's not particularly detailed so hopefully it is not triggering!
> 
> Also I really wanted to know what happened over summer and WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CAMARO so they somehow worked their way in there too.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> EDIT: My [tumblr](http://www.onemoresomething.tumblr.com). :)


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